For all the noise made by the very vocal opponents of smart meters, it appears the vast majority of consumers are choosing not to opt out of the devices. Since the beginning of February California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) authorized Pacific, Gas, and Electric (PG&E) to offer analog meters to residential customers instead of smart meters, the utility has received approximately 4,400 opt-out requests from its residential clients. Of those, 2,800 still had their old analog meters, so they simply won’t get the new devices, and the other 1,600 will exchange their current smart meters for analogue devices.

Helen Burt, PG&E’s senior vice president and chief customer officer notes, “When the Commission’s decision on smart meter Opt-Out was final, we immediately reached out to customers to offer the analog alternative, and began replacing smart meters with analog meters the very next day. We know how important the choice of a meter can be to our customers, and we want to be as responsive as possible.”

Besides the opt-out requests, around 1,400 customers on the smart meter delay list have now asked that the analog meters at their home be upgraded to smart meters.

After the CPUC’s decision, PG&E immediately contacted customers on the Delay List, and reached 90 percent of them. Starting in March, PG&E will begin a broader outreach strategy, where all residential customers will receive a brochure in their bill outlining the opt-out process.

Despite repeated independent studies affirming the safety and accuracy of smart meters, PG&E offered to give consumers the option to turn off the wireless radios in their smart meters, and in April provided customers with the option to delay the installation of new meters pending the CPUC’s final decision. Then last December, PG&E requested the CPUC to approve analog meters as another alternative to receiving a smart meter.

Since 2006, PG&E has installed nearly nine million digital, wireless gas and electric smart meters throughout its service area in Northern and Central California.

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